Does Self-Compassion Moderate the Cross-Sectional Association Between Life Stress and Depressive Symptoms?

Abstract

The central aims of the present study were to evaluate bivariate and multivariate associations between components of self-compassion and depressive symptoms, and to investigate the degree to which self-compassion and its components buffer the association between life stress and depressive symptoms. In a sample of female undergraduate students, linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) total and subscale scores as predictors of depressive symptoms (n = 218), and the total and subscale scores as moderators of the cross-sectional association between negative life events and depressive symptoms (n = 216). The SCS total and subscale scores, coded such that higher scores indicated higher self-compassion, were all significantly and negatively associated with depressive symptoms (p < 0.001). When depressive symptoms were simultaneously regressed on all SCS subscales, high correlations among subscales limited our ability to interpret parameter estimates. A post hoc analysis was therefore conducted in which depressive symptoms were regressed on composites of positive (self-compassion) and negative (uncompassionate behavior) subscales of the SCS. Results indicated that only uncompassionate behavior was significantly associated with unique variance in depressive symptoms. Neither the SCS total score nor any of the subscale scores significantly moderated the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms. Self-compassion, particularly uncompassionate behavior, is associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms, irrespective of the experience of negative life events. However, self-compassion does not buffer the positive cross-sectional association of negative life events with depressive symptoms.